A Little Birthday Math Outside of the Box: Book of the Week GIVEAWAY

July 18, 2011

Book of the Week GIVEAWAY: The Birthday Box by Leslie Patricelli

Why we love this book:

What’s better than getting a brand-new toy as a birthday gift? Playing with the box it came in! But shh, a doggy is hiding in the box. Together toddler and doggy have many adventures with the brand-new birthday box. Too cute!

This story rings so true and hits very close to home!

Planning for A Birthday Gift Outside of the Box

and a Little Real-Life Math!

If you’ve spent anytime here at waddlee-ah-chaa, you know MacGyver is obsessed with all things little-critter, creepy- crawly. There’s not much he loves more than catching little fish at Aunt Joyce’s river and . . .

. . . when visiting Aunt Joyce’s house, he always spends time observing the fish in her pond. On many occasions, he has expressed his strong desire to have a fish pond of his own.

One day while at a plant nursery, observing their goldfish, MacGyver started-in on wishing he had his own fish pond. That’s when I had one of those Mommy “bright-idea” moments, “You know your birthday is coming-up in a few months. You could let everyone know that you’d like a fish pond. They could give you gift cards or money towards the purchase of a fish pond, pond plants and the fish.” He gave this some thought and then moved full speed ahead with a plan.

We began the big birthday pond plan with a day of research. We visited a local water garden store and several supply stores. MacGyver asked questions and we wrote down everything he would need for his pond. We also recorded all prices.

Next, he wrote a journal entry summarizing his plan for a birthday fish pond.

As part of his journal entry, he created an organized chart of all the items he would need for his pond and the cost for each. This fit in perfectly with his math lesson as he had been learning how to “round” to the nearest dollar. I always try to keep my eyes open for opportunities to incorporate real-life learning applications into our daily activities.

LOVE these ideas! you are so awesome and turn everything into a fun learning time!

My best outside the box birthday gift I gave was surprising my best friend who lived in indiana at the time. we drove in (planned with her husbands help!) to spend about a week with her. it was awesome for both families!